Each team has an elite running back that leads the way. Hunt has carried the ball 224 times for 1,477 yards, an average of almost 7 yards per carry and 22 touchdowns. Mountain Crest's Eddy Hall has 1,380 yards on 184 carries — a stellar 7.5 yards per attempt — and 16 rushing touchdowns. Hall also has three TD receptions from quarterback Jamison Webb, who has thrown for 1,767 yards and 18 scores.

"Jakob Hunt's as good a back as there is in the state," coach Wall said of his star tailback. "He's got close to 1,500 yards for this season and just does a great job for us. He's probably our fastest kid and our strongest kid."

Mountain Crest's eight-game winning streak has been fueled by a strong defensive performance, which will be put to the test by Hunt and Co.

"It's nice to be on a streak like that," he said. "Our kids are becoming more used to winning, which helps a lot with kids this age.

"Our defense has become so good the last eight weeks. They're becoming really dominating and pretty physical. They're not real big, but they're quick and they're playing real smart and real fast. They're all under 200 pounds except for one of our kids, and they've used their speed to their advantage. We don't have any real dominating players, but they're playing really good team defense.

"Our 2005 (state championship) team didn't have a kid over 200 pounds, either," Wootton said. "But our kids have put in a lot of time in the offseason and have played very, very hard this season. Hopefully, that's enough."

Wall looks at turnovers as potentially the most telling statistic of Friday's matchup.

"Our goal would be always — and I know it sounds like a cliché and it certainly worked in our favor last week — is we need to win the turnover battle," he said. "Last week against Skyline, we got six turnovers and only committed one of our own. We need to control the football and not turn it over and play a little field position football. And hopefully, we'll have a chance at the end to win it and we'd be happy.

"The last couple of weeks, we've given up a touchdown a game or so," Wall said. "This week, when you get to this stage in quarterfinals, you know you've got to play hard, play your very best and hopefully don't get anybody hurt."

Lose and go home; win and move on — that's what the state playoffs are all about.

And the latter of those two scenarios is something these two tradition-rich programs know plenty about, so expect a dandy-of-a-duel on Friday afternoon.

Felt’s Factoid(s): Among active coaches, Larry Wall leads the state in games coached, 308, victories, 209, and seasons, starting his 27th. ... Bountiful was the last large school to shut out all its opponents in the playoffs. The Braves blanked all three en route to the 1979 Class 3A title.

Randy Hollis is a member of the Deseret News Vis-Ed team, primarily working on copy editing and page layout/design for the sports department. He also writes a weekly sports column which typically runs each Sunday. He came more ..